Cults and cult topography in the polis of the Athenians
Projectleader: Univ.Prof. Dr. Marion Meyer
In ancient Greece, religion was less a question of belief than a question of practice, of social action. The establishment and practice of a cult are evidence of the timai (honors) paid to a power. Individual and collective cult activities have left a variety of traces that are tangible in cult sites as well as archaeological, literary and epigraphic evidence.
No other ancient Greek city has as much information available as the polis of the Athenians. In the city (Athens) and in the countryside (Attica), there are numerous archaeological sites, discovery sites and finds that receive a great deal of attention (and are exploited accordingly) because of their cultural-historical, national and commercial significance, as well as more literary material than from any other Greek city (historical writings, dramas and comedies, speeches) and epigraphic sources. Intensive work is being carried out at national and international level to make this material accessible.
In recent years, synchronic and diachronic studies that take into account the diversity of cults have been written primarily from the perspective of written sources, i.e. from an ancient historical, epigraphic and philological perspective. These include excellent works that offer a promising basis for an expanded picture that includes the archaeological material (cult sites and finds). From the archaeological side, studies on various cult sites are available.
The aim is to achieve a networking of the results and competencies of the ancient studies disciplines with the aim of
1. to organize evidence for cults and cult sites in the state of Athens (urban center and Attica) in a way that can be used for various research questions and
2. to produce synthetic studies on individual complexes (e.g. cult recipients or cults, connection of newly introduced cults, diversity of the cult landscape in certain periods). It makes sense to concentrate on the 4th century BC, which is particularly rich in archaeological and written evidence.
I am currently working on a study of the worship of Athena on the Acropolis from its beginnings to the classical period. In the 2nd half of the 5th century BC, two temples were erected to the city goddess of Athens on the Acropolis, which - after several changes - still characterize the appearance of the sanctuary today: the temple with the old cult image (the so-called Erechtheion) in the northern part of the Acropolis and the temple of Athena Parthenos (the so-called Parthenon) in the southern part. Both buildings had predecessors - i.e. both buildings are part of longer traditions.
Almost everything is disputed with regard to these traditions: the history as well as the placement of the buildings, the age and procedure of certain cult practices (e.g. the consecration of a peplos), the significance of certain myths for the tradition of the cult, the thematization of certain responsibilities of the goddess, etc. My outline of the development of the worship of the goddess therefore deals with various topics: the history of the cult buildings on the Acropolis, sources on cult practice, mythical stories and their transmission, pictorial representations of the goddess.